Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan yesterday raised Pakistan’s reservation over the world’s ‘lukewarm’ response to Pakistan’s role in the war on terror.
“Pakistan has paid the biggest price for being the frontline ally of the US in this war. In the last 13 years, we have suffered more 9/11s than any other country. Our sacrifices in cash, kind, and lives are unrivalled,” the minister told a keen audience at US Institute of Peace (USIP) Washington DC.
He said Pakistan’s role had always been under-rated by the international community.
“Backlash of 9/11 was totally taken by Pakistan. If the role of Pakistan had been appreciate, if there was greater understanding of Pakistan’s position, may be all of Pakistan’s sacrifices would have been worth it,” Nisar said addressing the event hosted by USIP.
Listing out the steps taken by the Nawaz Sharif government in fight against terrorism, Khan said the headquarters of most of the Pakistan-based terrorist organizations have been destroyed in the border areas of the country.
“But it is no easy task. It would take a lot of efforts of cleansing,” he said.
Terrorist groups have gone across the border and trying to reorganize. They are trying to target softest targets, the interior minister said.
“The options for us are very difficult,” he said.
Pakistan has suffered a rising tide of violence since 9/11 attacks, most of it perpetrated by al Qaeda-linked extremist groups.
Since June last year, the army has been waging a major campaign against strongholds of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militants in the North Waziristan tribal area.
The military has heralded the success of the operation, which it says has killed more than 2,000 militants, though the precise number and identity of those killed cannot be verified independently.
The country has stepped up its fight against militants since Taliban gunmen massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school in Peshawar in December.
Following the massacre, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty and has since hung a number of convicted terrorists, angering the militant groups.
